Thursday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia saw a day of solid gains as oil continued to trade higher following Opec’s decision to cut output for the first time since the financial crisis and as Japanese stocks benefited from recent weakness in the yen. European bourses are expected to open little changed, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will add 2 points to 6,785 and Germany’s […]
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg | ACCRA ACCRA Ghana’s main opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo skipped the country’s only presidential debate on Wednesday, leaving the stage to President John Mahama and four other opponents a week before the election. Aides to the leader of the New Patriotic Party said he decided to stick to his prior campaign commitments, even though it meant missing the chance to present his message […]
To our complete shock, the Government Accountability Office has released a report blasting the Education Department’s understanding of basic mathematics and accounting concepts after finding the department drastically underestimated the costs of Obama’s student loan forgiveness programs. The 100-page report entitled “Federal Student Loans: Education Needs to Improve Its Income Driven Repayment Plan Budget Estimates” found that taxpayers could be on the hook for $137BN of student […]
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman underlined the kingdom’s intention to invest heavily in speeding up its diversification away from oil exports with the inauguration on Tuesday of a $35 billion mining and minerals processing complex. Riyadh has tried to reduce the economy’s reliance on oil for decades, but the challenge has become particularly urgent in the past couple of years as low prices have pushed state finances deep […]
OPEC has agreed its first limit on oil output since 2008, an OPEC source told Reuters after Saudi Arabia said it was prepared to accept “a big hit” on production and agree to arch-rival Iran freezing output at pre-sanctions levels. Brent crude futures jumped 8 percent to more than $50 a barrel on hopes Riyadh had finally reached a compromise with Iran after insisting in recent weeks […]
Salvatore Ferragamo is often mistaken for his iconic fashion designer grandfather and founder of the Salvatore Ferragamo fashion brand, who became known after his shoes because a must-have in Hollywood for actresses such as Katherine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. Eighty-nine years later, Ferragamo’s grandson is nowhere near the fashion house. Instead, he heads the family’s $680m hospitality estate in Tuscany, Il Borro. The 700 hectares historic hillside […]
Just as horror movies can spook fright nerds more than they expect, so political risk is sparking heightened levels of anxiety among seasoned investors. Investors caught out by Brexit and Donald Trump are making better preparations for political risk in Europe, plotting a route to the exit door if the unfolding story of French, German and Dutch elections poses a serious test for markets. One key measure […]
30 November 2016 Dubai: Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, was named ‘Banking and Finance Company of the Year’ at the prestigious Arabian Business Achievement Awards held yesterday (Monday, November 28, 2016). The bank was recognised for its pioneering efforts toward the digitisation of banking as well as its resilient performance in the past year. The Arabian Business Achievement Awards are adjudicated by an independent judging […]
WASHINGTON President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said on Wednesday the administration would target tax reform and trade pact overhauls as top priorities as they seek to achieve 3 percent to 4 percent economic growth. Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, outlined their agenda, including what Mnuchin called the largest tax overhaul since the Ronald Reagan administration, in an interview […]
Qatar said it would provide $1.25 billion in aid to shore up Tunisia’s post-revolution economy as regional and Western partners pledged extensive financial backing at an investment conference on Tuesday. The money from Qatar, announced by the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is the biggest single offer of aid to Tunisia since a 2011 uprising ushered in a democratic transition but also years of economic uncertainty […]
• Mountain Dew branded ride unveiled at IMG Worlds of Adventure. • PepsiCo announced as preferred beverages partner for the world’s largest indoor theme park in Dubai. UAE, Dubai – November 30, 2016: PepsiCo has unveiled the official grand entrance marquee of the Mountain Dew-sponsored “Predator” ride, at the newly opened IMG Worlds of Adventure. The global food and beverage company has also announced that it will […]
/By Maxwell Wessel/The term “big data” is ubiquitous. With exabytes of information flowing across broadband pipes, companies compete to claim the biggest, most audacious data sets. And businesses of all varieties — old and new, industrial and digital, big and small — are getting into the game. Masses of social, weather, and government data are being leveraged to predict supply chain outages. Enormous amounts of user data are being […]
5791 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil October 21, 2016 Brazil’s President Michel Temer, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and South African President Jacob Zuma pose for a group picture during BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Benaulim, in the western state of Goa, India, October 16, 2016 (Reuters/Danish Siddiqui). BRICS Fund InfrastructureAs commodity prices have […]
Muscat, November 30, 2016 As part of its on-going support of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and in line with the Government’s initiatives to boost the SME sector within the country, Bank Sohar recently participated and sponsored as a bronze sponsor in the fourth edition of the Ebda‘at Omaniya SME Expo; marking its second consecutive year of support for the event. As part of its participation, the […]
Liquids shared mouth-to-mouth by social insects contain proteins and small molecules that can influence the development and organisation of their colonies, according to new findings published in eLife. The study from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, suggests Florida carpenter ants can collectively influence their communities by shifting the cocktail of proteins, hormones and other small molecules that they pass mouth-to-mouth to one another and their young through […]
November 30, 2016 by: FT Confidential Research The FTCR China Business Activity Index, a composite reading of the month-on-month change in activity in the real estate, export and freight sectors, fell to a 10-month low in November. The index dropped to 47.8 from 50 in October, below last November’s 48.6. Our BAI readings have always fallen sequentially in November but this is the weakest reading for the […]
Dubai – UAE (Nov. 29, 2016) HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Chairman of Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) and Sheikh Ali bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al-Thani, Chairman of Qatar Navigation (Milaha), today witnessed the signing of an agreement between Mwani Qatar and Milaha to establish a new company, QTerminals, to manage Hamad Port. As per the agreement, the new company […]
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon addresses the Annual Conference of Swiss Developement Cooperation in Zurich, Switzerland January 22, 2016. On the screen behind are displayed the 17 goals of UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann). Emerging Voices highlights new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges from contributing scholars and practitioners. This post is from Niklas Kossow, communications officer for the European Union FP7 ANTICORRP […]
Tuesday 15:15 GMT Overview The dollar and Treasury yields are steadying, but US equities are edging lower, as stronger-than expected US GDP data raise concerns that the Federal Reserve may quicken the pace of interest rate rises. The firmer buck is adding to pressure on commodity prices, with gold selling off and oil prices sliding on scepticism over an Opec deal to curb output. Hot topic It […]
An employee of a foreign exchange trading company works near monitors showing U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaking on TV news (top) in Tokyo, Japan, November 9, 2016. (Toru Hanai/Reuters). With Donald Trump’s victory, the prospects for digital trade have dimmed. This development owes much to the hostility towards trade that Trump brings to the presidency. But it also involves shifts more fundamental than Trump’s rejection of trade […]
People have a general idea of how much a rocket-propelled grenade costs. What about a cyber weapon? (Baz Ratner/Reuters), Max Smeets is a D.Phil candidate and research affiliate of the Cyber Studies Programme at the University of Oxford. His work analyzes the proliferation of cyber weapons. Can a non-state actor take down critical infrastructure with a cyberattack? If it is not possible today, will it be possible […]
November 29, 2016 The UAE Banks Federation, the professional body representing 49 banks in the UAE, hosted today (Tuesday, November 29, 2016) its 4th CEOs Advisory Council Meeting in Dubai. The meeting provided an engaging platform to assess UBF’s progress in developing a unified approach to customer complaints, discussed the industry’s preparedness in cyber-security domain and reviewed latest developments in the sector. Speaking on the sidelines of […]
In a report confirming that the ECB is preparing for a rerun of a post-Brexit scenario, Reuters writes that the ECB is ready to temporarily step up purchases of Italian government bonds if the result of next Sunday’s crucial referendum, which according to WSJ will likely determine the future of not only Monte Paschi but other insolvent Italian banks, “rocks markets” and sharply drives up borrowing costs […]
Two weeks before the election, I traveled to Maine for a conference and drove through Massachusetts and New Hampshire on my way. In Silicon Valley, which was mostly Clinton country, I’d seen very few signs or bumper stickers promoting any candidates. But as I drove through the northeast, plenty of Trump signs were displayed on people’s lawns, fences, and car bumpers. I did see a […]
